I remember once crying telling my dad how depressed and ashamed I was of bipolar and he responded like it was just any other chronic illness, which was cool. He told me I had nothing to be ashamed about and compared it to a physical illness.

Other than that time when it had to be faced like that, we don't talk about it. Why would we? I might have bipolar but, I don't identify as bipolar and my family doesn't view me as any different. Heck, when I told my sister about my diagnosis she said, "Yes, I know about that and?" Haha, no surprises there! I just said, "well why didn't you tell me before I had to find out the hard way?"

Both those reactions had a lot to do with my overcoming stigma about it. I used to hate myself so much and for what?